School choice is likely to be at the forefront of education policy discussions in this year's race for governor of Tennessee. The two candidates have opposite approaches to the topic.
In a July 2026 campaign advertisement, Memphis City Councilmember and Democratic nominee for Tennessee governor Jerri Green said she would fully fund public schools, de-fund the voucher program and support special education.
"Tennessee is robbing public schools of $1.1 billion over five years to fund private vouchers that largely go to wealthy families," reads Green's campaign website. "That money could be used to raise teacher pay, wipe out half the school repair backlog, and increase classroom resources."
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, the Republican nominee, is
in favor of school choice.
Blackburn introduced the Educational Choice for Children Act, which allows individuals to receive up to $1,700 in credits for donating to nonprofit organizations that grant scholarships. These groups can distribute scholarships for private school tuition, tutoring, transportation, or special education services.
Outgoing Gov. Bill Lee supported school choice and created the Education Freedom Scholarship program, which uses public funds to support 35,000 students attending private schools in Tennessee.
Blackburn has said she will expand the program to all families in the state if elected.
Green has argued school choice would take money from schools at a detriment to their community, especially in rural areas or small towns where a school is the community's biggest employer.
MSCS meetings this week
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board will hold its board work session and committee meetings on Sept. 10. Committee meetings will begin at 3 p.m. at 160 Glenn Rogers Sr. St, and the board work session will follow at 5:30 p.m.
The public can listen to the meeting at 88.5 FM or watch the meeting on the MSCS school board website or on its YouTube and Facebook pages.
The academic committee is scheduled to discuss TCAP scores and the audit budget finance committee will discuss the forensic audit, according to board agenda documents.
Jack Armstrong covers breaking news and the environment for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at jack.armstrong@commercialappeal.com and followed on X @jca2902.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What do Tennessee gubernatorial candidates think about school vouchers?
